Excerpt: … The disappearance of the Welfare State and, subsequently, the weakening of the Regulator State have run concurrently and are the consequence of the accelerated emergence of corporations; a sort of gradual coup d’état, where big corporations and financial groups have overtaken power. The Reagan-Thatcher era with legislative deregulation against monopolistic practices, with the elimination of governmental regulation, with the thinning and/or privatisation of public services, redirected tax revenue to finance directly and indirectly these power groups and not the people suffering from the inequalities generated by the market.

Corporate culture has changed dramatically. In the Welfare State ethos, thirty years ago, many multinationals felt a genuine responsibility for their employees. Many industries were regulated, and competition was not as brutal as today.

Ruthlessness began when business was deregulated, and governments stopped, in classical neoliberal style, performing their balancing act. With this kind of competition, massive layoffs began as a measure of last resource during hard times, when a company was struggling to survive … (full text 4 pdf-pages).